Systems and methods of multi-touch concurrent dispensing

ABSTRACT

Systems and method for beverage dispense from a plurality of users include a beverage dispenser with a touch-sensitive graphical display. A computer of the beverage dispenser receives touch event data points and identifies one or more GUI sections of a plurality of GUI sections associated with the received touch event data points. The computer further operates to interpret a touch event input and provide a command responsive to the input to an associated dispensing unit.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/009,390, filed on Jun. 9, 2014, the content of whichis hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the field of beverage dispensing. Moreparticularly, the present disclosure relates to a beverage dispensersupporting concurrent dispensing with a multi-touch input device.

BACKGROUND

Beverage dispensing machines are used in a wide variety of settings,including restaurants, convenience stores, and concession stands.Beverage dispensers can be configured to dispense branded drinksincluding carbonated soil drinks, non-carbonated drinks, or teas.Beverage dispensers may also be used to dispense beverages that arecustom or proprietary to a particular location or venue. Beveragedispensers are also used in diverse operational settings, eitheroperated by a food service worker such as in a restaurant setting or bya customer themselves, for example in a convenience store setting.

While touch screen user interfaces provide convenience and flexibilityto adapt a beverage dispenser to a manner or a setting in which it willbe used, touch-sensitive displays are typically used by a singleoperator at one time. Therefore, a beverage dispenser configured to beused by multiple users at the same time must resort to multipleindependent user interfaces for each dispensing arrangement.

Furthermore, the arrangement of multi-touch displays and the manner inwhich multi-touch displays are configured to output detected touchevents presents challenges when multiple touch inputs are to beinterpreted as independent inputs rather than as components of a multiinput gesture. Still thither touch-sensitive displays have difficultlyin detecting and interpreting “touch and hold” inputs, particularly whenother multi-touch inputs are concurrently or simultaneously received.

Therefore, the systems and methods for dispensing with multi-touch inputfor multiple concurrent dispensing as disclosed herein representimprovements over the prior art.

BRIEF DISCLOSURE

This disclosure is provided to introduce a selection of concepts thatare further described herein below in the Detailed Description. Thisdisclosure is not intended to identify key or essential features of theclaimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid inlimiting the scope of the claimed subject matter.

An exemplary embodiment of a beverage dispenser includes atouch-sensitive graphical display. The touch-sensitive graphical displayis operable to simultaneously receive a plurality of touch inputs andproduce a list of touch event data points representing received touchinputs. The touch-sensitive graphical display is operable to present agraphical user interface (GUI). A computer is communicatively connectedto the touch-sensitive graphical display. The computer executed computerreadable code stored on a computer readable medium such that thecomputer receives the list of touch event data points from thetouch-sensitive graphical display. The computer identifies at least oneicon associated with each touch event data point, identifies a GUIsection associated with each identified icon, interprets at least onegesture input from the touch event data points, and produces a controlsignal in response to the at least one gesture input. A first dispensingsystem includes a plurality of valves configured to control a flow of atleast one diluent and at least one flavor. A second dispensing systemincludes a plurality of valves configured to control a flow of at leastone diluent and at least one flavoring. The computer directs the controlsignal to the first dispensing system or the second dispensing systembased upon the identified GUI section associated with each identifiedicon.

An exemplary embodiment of a beverage dispenser for concurrent dispenseof a first beverage requested by a first user and a second beveragerequested by a second user includes a touch-sensitive graphical displaywhich is operable to simultaneously receive a plurality of touch inputsand produce lists of touch event data points representing received touchinputs. The touch-sensitive graphical display is operable to present agraphical user interface (GUI). A computer is communicatively connectedto the touch-sensitive graphical display, the computer executes computerreadable code stored on the computer readable medium such that thecomputer receives the list of touch event data points from thetouch-sensitive graphical display, identifies a GUI layer common to thetouch event data points in each received list, identifies at least afirst icon and second icon associated with touch event data points in areceived list. The computer identifies a first GUI section associatedwith the first icon and a second GUI section associated with a secondicon and interprets at least a first gesture input from the touch event,data points associated to the first GUI section and a second gestureinput from the touch event data points associated to the second GUIsection. The computer produces a first control signal in response to thefirst gesture input and a second control signal in response to thesecond gesture input. A first dispensing system includes a plurality ofvalves configured to control a flow of at least one diluent and at leastone flavoring. The first dispensing system receives the first controlsignal and operates to dispense the first beverage requested by thefirst control signal. A second dispensing system includes a plurality ofvalves configured to control a flow of at least one diluent and at leastone flavoring. The second dispensing system receives the second controlsignal and operates to dispense the second beverage requested by thesecond control signal.

In a beverage dispenser having a graphical user interface (GUI)including a display and touch-sensitive user selection device, at leasta first dispensing system, and a second dispensing system a method ofdispensing a beverage includes receiving a list of touch event datapoints indicative of at least one touch input by at least one user tothe GUI. A plurality of icons are presented in the GUI. At least oneicon associated with each touch event data point is identified. A firstGUI section of the GUI and a second GUI section of the GUI areidentified as associated with the identified icons. The touch event datapoints in the first GUI section are interpreted as a first gestureinput. The touch event data points in the second GUI section areinterpreted as a second gesture input. A first command instruction isprovided to the first dispensing system based upon the first gestureinput. A second command instruction is provided to the second dispensingsystem based upon a second gesture input.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Examples are described with reference to the following drawing figures.The same numbers are used throughout the figures to reference likefeatures and components.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a beveragedispenser.

FIG. 2 is a system diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a beveragedispenser.

FIG. 3 is a system diagram of an additional exemplary embodiment of abeverage dispenser.

FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a graphical user interfacepresented on a graphical display.

FIG. 5 is an exploded hierarchical view depicting a plurality ofgraphical user interface layers presented on the graphical display.

FIG. 6A depicts an exemplary embodiment of a first configuration of abeverage selection graphical user interface.

FIG. 6B depicts an exemplary embodiment of a second configuration of abeverage selection graphical user interface.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart that depicts an exemplary embodiment of a methodof dispensing a plurality of beverages.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart that depicts an additional exemplary embodimentof dispensing a plurality of beverages.

DETAILED DISCLOSURE

Through research and experimentation, the present inventors haverealized that it would be beneficial to provide a beverage dispensingmachine having multi-touch control dispense nozzles which are reactiveto multi-touch inputs received via a touch-sensitive display screen,exemplarily a liquid crystal display (LCD). Through research anddevelopment, the present inventors have also recognized that it would bedesirable to provide a unit that concurrently and/or simultaneouslydispenses from two or more nozzles receiving such inputs at thetouch-sensitive display screen.

In the present disclosure, “simultaneously” and “concurrently” are usedto reflect the relative timing of events. “Simultaneously” refers to atiming of events that occur at the same time, for example, two userspress the touch-sensitive display in a touch gesture at the same time orwithin a refresh rate of the list of touch event data points describedin further detail herein. “Concurrently” refers to a timing of events inwhich the events each have a time duration and over at least a portionof that duration there is overlap between the two events, for example,the beverage dispenser begins dispense of a beverage from the firstnozzle, then during that dispense, begins dispense of a beverage fromthe second nozzle. It will further be understood that a “simultaneous”timing of events is a special case of a “concurrent” timing of events.

In embodiments, arrangements and methods of operation are provided todecipher concurrent inputs by two or more different users into a singletouch-sensitive display screen, so the arrangements can provideconcurrent dispenses based upon concurrent and/or simultaneousselections and/or pour inputs. In embodiments, digitizers provide thenecessary data packaging from the touch-sensitive graphical display andsuch data from the digitizer is converted into commands that are used byat least one controller in a beverage dispensing machine to accomplishthe above-highlighted objectives. The touch-sensitive graphical displaycan be connected directly or indirectly to at least one computer orcontroller, exemplarily a single board computer (SBC). One example ofsuch connection is a low voltage differential signaling (LVDS)connection, which may be used to drive the display to put the graphicson the screen and to return the list of touch event data points to thecomputer. A digitizer can be connected between the touch-sensitivegraphical display and the computer to identify and compile touch eventdata and provide this data to the computer. In an embodiment, thedigitizer is specially configured as disclosed in further detail hereinto interpret multiple touch events simultaneously occurring on thetouch-sensitive graphical display. The computer can exemplarily beconfigured in a number of ways and with various operating systems,including, but not limited to WINDOWS, UNICES, LINUX-type systems,UMBUNTU, FEDORA, and KUBUNTU and others as may be recognized by one ofordinary skill in the art.

In embodiments, the computer interprets the received touch event data asuser input signals and selections in the manners as will be explained infurther detail herein. The computer then communicates with multi-flavorvalve (MFV) boards developed to operate to control a plurality of valvesto provide dispense of a selected beverage including multiple beverageconstituents through a single nozzle. As disclosed in further detailherein, in embodiments the MFV board operates to control the dispense,including, but not limited to sequencing of the valves to ensure thatcarry over is minimized and that a correct ratio of all of theconstituent products that make up the beverage are provided.

Further details of the present disclosure will become apparent throughthe following description of exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a beveragedispenser 10. The beverage dispenser 10 includes a touch-sensitivegraphical display 12 as will be described in further detail herein, andwhich operates to present a graphical user interface (GUI) with aplurality of different functional sections. As explained in furtherdetail herein, each of the plurality of functional sections may berepresented by a different layer m the GUI encompassing similarnon-overlapping sections.

The beverage dispenser 10 includes a dispensing area 14 that isconfigured to simultaneously dispense at least two beverages. Thedispensing area includes a plurality of nozzles 16 through which aselected beverage is dispensed. In an exemplary embodiment of thebeverage dispenser 10 depicted in FIG. 1, the dispensing area 14includes two nozzles 16, although it will be recognized that in otherembodiments, more than two nozzles 16 may be present. The dispensingarea 14 further includes an ice dispenser 18. Various types andconfigurations of ice dispensers known in the art may be exemplarilyused in embodiments as disclosed herein, including, but not limited to,“drop in” style ice dispensers. As will be described in further detailherein, in one embodiment, the ice dispenser 18 will be actuated by alever 20 as depicted in FIG. 1 or in another embodiment may be actuatedby a touch input into the touch-sensitive graphical display 12 as willbe described in further detail herein.

FIG. 2 is a system diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a beveragedispenser 22. It will be understood that in an embodiment, the beveragedispenser 22 as depicted in system form map be incorporated into thebeverage dispenser 10 as depicted in FIG. 1, although the beveragedispenser 22 may alternatively take other physical forms not depicted inFIG. 1.

While not depicted in FIG. 2, exemplary embodiments of the beveragedispenser are electrically powered and the beverage dispenser 22 may beconfigured with appropriate connections and converters to handle anyinternational electricity standard. In exemplary embodiments, thebeverage dispenser 22 may be configured to receive 120, 130, or 240 VACat 50/60 Hz mains electricity. Exemplary embodiments of the beveragedispenser may include a power supply that converts the electrical mainsto electrical power suited for the operation of various componentsincluding, but not limited to 24 VDC.

The beverage dispenser 22 includes a touch-sensitive graphical display24. In a non-limiting and exemplary embodiment, the touch-sensitivegraphical display 24 is exemplarily a projected touch capacitance (PTC)multi-touch screen. The touch-sensitive graphical display 24 includes adigitizer that outputs a real time list of touch event data, identifyingany touch events sensed by the touch-sensitive graphical display. In anexemplary embodiment, this touch event data is output in a list. Suchlist is updated in real time or near real time at a refresh rate of thedigitizer and/or touch-sensitive graphical display. In an embodiment thelist includes up to ten points of touch event data. In other exemplaryembodiments, this list may include more points of touch event data, forexample, but not limited to, 50 points or more of touch event data. Inan exemplary embodiment, the list of touch event data points onlyidentifies points in which a change in touch state (touch or no touch)has occurred.

The touch event data is provided from the digitizer of thetouch-sensitive graphical display 24 to the computer 26 which isexemplarily a single board computer (SBC). In one non-limitingembodiment, the computer 26 is an Aaeon EMB-9459 Single Board PC with anUbuntu operating system.

The computer 26 exemplarily includes a computer readable medium 28 orotherwise is communicatively connected to a computer readable medium 28.Computer readable code is stored on the computer readable medium 28 inthe form of software and/or applications that upon execution by thecomputer 26 perform various functions as disclosed in further detailherein. In operation, the computer 26 receives the touch event datapoints from the touch-sensitive graphical display 24 and parses thetouch event data points to identify and allocate touch events betweenvarious layers and sections within the graphical user interfacepresented on the touch-sensitive graphical display 24.

In an exemplary embodiment, the computer 26 operates the touch-sensitivegraphical display 24 to present a GUI as exemplarily depicted in FIG. 4as a plurality of layers comprising a plurality of sections shown inFIG. 4 and as exemplarily depicted in an exploded and hierarchical viewin FIG. 5. The controller operates in the manners as disclosed herein toassociate particular touch events in the touch event data points betweenthe layers, GUI sections within layers, user input options presented tothe user or users in those sections to handle concurrent use of thebeverage dispenser by more than one user. Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5,the GUI 50 in embodied in a Layer 0. A media section 52 and a usersection 54, are embodied in a Layer 1. Additionally, the user section 54is further represented by a first beverage selection section 56 and asecond beverage selection section 58 making up a Layer 2. An icedispense section 60 may be optionally included in the user section 54.Optional first and second configurations (66, 68) of the first andsecond beverage selection sections (56, 58) make up a Layer 3.

Referring back to FIG. 2, the computer 26 operates to allocate the touchevents from the received touch data exemplarily between the firstbeverage selection section 58, second beverage selection section 58, andice dispense section 60 of the user section 54 and interpret thoseallocated touch events into commands to respective dispensing controlsas described in further detail herein.

The beverage dispenser 22 includes a first dispensing unit including afirst multi-flavor valve (MFV) board 30, a plurality of flow valves anda nozzle 38. The beverage dispenser further includes a second dispensingunit including a second MFV board 32, a plurality of flow valves and anozzle 38. The computer 26 provides instructional commands respectivelyto the first MFV board 30 and second MFV board 32 based upon touchevents respectively allocated to the first beverage selection section 56and second beverage selection section 58. The respective MFV boards 30,32 exemplarily include SBC's that interpret the commands from thecomputer and translate these commands to operation of a plurality ofvalves associated with the MFV boards 30, 32 to dispense a plurality ofbeverage components, including at least one diluent from a diluentsource 34 and at least one flavoring from a flavor source 36. In anexemplary embodiment, the diluent source 34 provides a plurality ofavailable diluents including, but not limited to still water andcarbonated water, including varieties of water with one or more levelsof carbonation. In exemplary embodiments, the flavor source 36 providesa plurality of beverage flavorings and additives, including, but notlimited to, flavored syrups and other flavor extracts. In embodiments,the flavorings in the flavor source 36 may include syrups for brandedbeverages (e.g. PEPSI and COKE) and supplemental flavors (e.g. vanilla,cherry, lime, etc.).

In an exemplary embodiment, the MFV boards are exemplarily configured tocontrol the dispense of up to four diluents, 16 branded beverage syrups,and eight flavor extracts; however, these are merely intended to beexemplary and are not intending to be limiting on the numbers and typesof controlled dispenses by the MFV boards. The MFV boards operate toconvert the instructions from the computer 26 into operations of theappropriate flow valves in a selected combination of diluent andflavoring to dispense the diluent and flavoring through a common nozzle38. In the exemplary embodiment depicted, the first MFV board 30 and thesecond MFV board 32 are both directly communicatively connected to thecomputer 26. However, in alternative embodiments, such as exemplarilydepicted in FIG. 3, MFV boards may be connected in a ganged orseriesconfiguration, which may facilitate the implementation of a plurality ofdispensing systems including three or more dispensing units within thebeverage dispenser 22 beyond the two dispensing units depicted in FIG.2.

In the exemplary embodiment of the beverage dispenser 22 the computer 26is further communicatively connected to the agitator control relay 40 ofan ice dispenser. The agitator control relay 40 receives a commandinstruction from the computer 126 to dispense ice. In an exemplaryembodiment, the computer 26 provides this command instruction to theagitator control relay 40 after interpreting at least one touch event asbeing associated with a user input of an ice dispense selection withinthe ice dispense section 60 exemplarily depicted in FIG. 4.

The agitator control relay 40, upon this instruction, operates anagitator motor 42 to move a supply of ice and opens an ice dispense port44, exemplarily configured with a gate, to dispense ice therethrough.Upon release of the input or after a predetermined amount of time hasrun from the received input, the ice dispense port 44 is closed and theagitator motor 42 has stopped.

FIG. 6A depicts an exemplary embodiment of a first configuration 66 of abeverage selection section 56, 58. FIG. 6B depicts an exemplaryembodiment of a second configuration 68 of the beverage selectionsection 56, 58. The first configuration 66 of the beverage selectionsection is exemplarily configured as a carousel 70 that presents aplurality of beverage icons 72 of available branded beverages or customor proprietary beverages for user selection. The system is operable torecognize various user inputs allocated to the beverage selectionsections. Exemplarily, the computer is operable to interpret “flick”,“tap”, and “touch and hold” gesture inputs as well as an absence ofinputs for a predetermined length of time. In an exemplary embodiment, a“flick” gesture is interpreted as a time sequence of touch event datapoints embodying a series of points directionally moving away from astart point. Identification by a computer of such a flick gesture in agenerally right or left direction within a beverage selection sectionresults in the computer sending command instructions to thetouch-sensitive graphical display to cycle the series of presentedbeverage icons 72 in the carousel 70 to move one of the beverage icons72, which may be branded beverage icons (e.g. PEPSI or COKE) to variouspositions within the carousel 70. In an exemplary embodiment, thecarousel 70 is configured to present only a predetermined number ofbeverage icons 72 and in a further embodiment, a predetermined oddnumber of beverage icons 72 such that a single beverage icon 72 can holda center position of the carousel 70 within the beverage selectionsection.

A “tap” gesture may be interpreted by the computer upon receiving ashort time sequence of touch event data points at a series of localizedpoints sequentially followed by a release event of those same points. A“tap” on the beverage icon 72 in the center position results in theselection of that beverage and the computer operates the touch-sensitivegraphical display to present the beverage selection section in thesecond configuration 68. If a “tap” gesture is interpreted inassociation with any of the other beverage icons 72 in the carousel 70then the computer still operates to present the second configuration asdescribed above, but also internally stores the selected beverage icon72 in the computer memory such that when navigation returns to the firstconfiguration of the beverage selection section, the previously selectedbeverage icon 72 is at the center position in the carousel 70.

In the second configuration 68 of the beverage selection section, anicon 74 is presented of the selected beverage previously selected fromthe first configuration 66 of the beverage selection section. The secondconfiguration 68 further presents a plurality of supplemental flavoricons 76A-H which present a plurality of optional supplemental flavorsor additives to the selected beverage. Non-limiting examples of suchflavors may include cherry, grape, lemon, lime, orange, vanilla, mint,basil, and cinnamon, although other flavors will be recognized by aperson of ordinary skill in the art. Additionally, the secondconfiguration 68 further presents control button icons including a backbutton icon 78, a pour button icon 80, and a clear button icon 82.

When the graphical user interface is operated by the computer to presentthe beverage selection section in the second configuration, the computercan operate to interpret “tap” gesture and “tap and hold” gestures fromthe touch event data points received by the computer. A “tap” event maybe interpreted as explained above, while a “touch and hold” event may bedetermined by a predetermined minimum length of time elapsing between atouch event detected at particular points before a release event isdetected at the same points. In operation, the user inputs one or moretap gesture inputs on one or more of the flavor icons 76A-H. Uponselection of one or more of the icons, computer may operate thegraphical display to change the selected icons to highlight or otherwiseindicate that such flavor has been selected for incorporation into theselected beverage, again as indicated by the selected beverage icon 74.User selection of the back button icon 78, exemplarily with a tapgesture upon the back button icon 78 results the computer controllingthe touch sensitive graphical display to present the first configuration66 of the beverage selection section, with the beverage icon of theprevious selected beverage centered on the carousel. A user selection ofthe clear button icon 82 exemplarily with a tap gesture can clear thepresented second configuration from any selections of flavor icons76A-H.

The pour button icon 80 is exemplarily operated by the user with a“touch and hold” gesture whereby the user holds their finger against thepour button icon 80 for the general duration of the time that theselected beverage and supplemental flavors are dispensed from thenozzle. Referring back to FIG. 2, there are various manners in which thecomputer 26 and the MFV boards 30, 32 may interact. In one embodiment,the computer saves each of the beverage selections and supplementalflavor selections in a memory of the computer until the user selects thepour button icon, after which, the entire beverage request is sent tothe appropriate MFV board. In an alternative configuration, the computerupdates an instruction to the appropriate MFV board with each selectionmade by a user such that by the time that the user selects the pourbutton icon, the entire beverage order has been provided to the MFVboard and is stored at the MFV board.

In an exemplary embodiment, once the computer identifies a touch downevent associated with a pour button icon of one of the beverageselection sections, the computer provides a dispense signal to theassociated MFV board. In still further exemplary embodiments, thedispense signal is a dispense signal requesting a dispense by the MFVvalve for a predetermined length of time. In an exemplary andnon-limiting embodiment, this predetermined length of time may be for25.5 seconds (255 ds). However, upon detection of a release event at thepour button icon of the beverage selection section, the controllerprovides a second instruction signal to the MFV valve to terminate thepreviously requested dispense. This has the practical effect to the userof dispensing the requested beverage for the duration that the user ispressing the pour button icon 80, but also provides a built in safeguard in the event that a subsequent termination signal is not providedthat the MFV board will only operate the valve to dispense for a totalof the predetermined length of time rather than continuing to dispensebeverage.

FIG. 3 is a system diagram of an additional exemplary embodiment of abeverage dispenser 46. It will be recognized that in the system diagramof FIG. 3, like reference numerals between FIGS. 2 and 3 are used todenote similar structures for the purpose of clarity and conciseness inthe present disclosure. The beverage dispenser 46 of FIG. 3 exemplarilydepicts an embodiment wherein a communicative connection exists betweenthe first MFV board 30 and a second MFV board 32 in a series or gangedcommunication scheme. In such an embodiment, command instructions fromthe computer 26, intended for the second MFV board 32, are provided tothe first MFV board 30 before being relayed to the second MFV board 32.Such an exemplary embodiment can facilitate the implementation of abeverage dispenser in either of the configurations otherwise depicted inFIGS. 2 and 3 that includes more than two dispensing units.

Additionally, the beverage dispenser 46 depicts an embodiment whereineach of the ice dispenser 18, first MFV board 30, and second MFV board32 are actuated for a dispense of either the ice or a selected beverageby a manual lever 48. Exemplarily, the lever 48 may be physicallyassociated with the respective nozzle 38 or ice dispense port 44 and auser of the beverage dispenser 46 actuates the lever 48 with a cup toinitiate dispense of the ice or beverage. In such an embodiment, a useror users may use the beverage selection sections in the GUI to select abeverage and any supplemental flavors, the selection of which isprovided to the associated MFV board. However, the dispense of thebeverage is intended and controlled by actuation of the associatedmanual lever 48.

It will be recognized that in alternative embodiments combinations ofthe features depicted in FIGS. 2 and 3 may be incorporated togetherwhile remaining within the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore,in alternative embodiments, the pour command for one or more of the icedispenser or beverage dispensing units may be input by the user or usersthrough the touch screen and/or may be input from actuation of a manuallever.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart that depicts an exemplary embodiment of a method100 of dispensing a plurality of beverages from multi-touch inputs of aplurality of users. As presented above, a problem exists in the fieldwherein a touch-sensitive input device outputs touch event data as alist of touch event data points embodying a single touch event. Whilethat current arrangement facilitates and makes possible the detection ofcomplex multi-touch gestures such as grip, pinch, and rotate gestures,it also creates a barrier to the use of a touch sensitive user interfaceto collect multiple concurrent user inputs. These problems have resultedin the need for dedicated separate user input devices including buttons,levers, and/or touch-sensitive displays for each dispensing system in amulti-dispensing system dispenser. The problems identified by theinventors are overcome by embodiments of the method 100 as described infurther detail herein.

At 102 a list of touch event data points is received. Exemplarily, thislist of touch event data points is received from a digitizer of atouch-sensitive graphical display, as described above, and is receivedby a computer of the beverage dispenser. As previously described, thelist of touch event data points may be output and received at therefresh rate of the digitizer.

As mentioned above, the digitizer and the operating system of thecomputer seek to interpret this list as a single touch event. Therefore,at 104 a GUI layer encompassing all of the touch event data points inthe received list of touch event data points is identified. Referencingback to FIG. 5, the GUI 50 is broken into a series of layers (Layer0-Layer 3) with each layer including at least one non-overlapping GUIsection. The GUI is arranged in a hierarchy of layers wherein GUIsections residing in a subsequent layer are encompassed by the GUIsection of a superior layer. In practice the GUI 50 is constructed bystacking the layers sequentially upon one another, exemplarily withLayer 0 at the back and Layer 3 on the top. Exemplarily, thepresentations of the first configuration 66 and second configuration 68of the beverage selection sections comprise Layer 3, while the beverageselection sections 56, 58 themselves are each common to both of thefirst configuration 66 and second configuration 68 and therefore embodyLayer 2. The user section 54 is common to both of the beverage selectionsections 56, 58 and therefore embodies Layer 1. A content section 52 isalso exemplarily located in Layer 1. Layer 0, embodied by the entire GUI50 space, is common to both the content section 52 and the user section54 of Layer 1.

Therefore, according to such a hierarchy, the most superior layer (e.g.largest layer) required to encompass all of the touch event data pointsin the received list is identified. It will be recognized that in FIG. 5more sections may be present in alternative embodiments, including, butnot limited to an ice dispense section and still further beverageselection sections.

At 106 a current location within the GUI of each icon presented in thevarious sections of the GUI is stored. This may exemplarily be stored ata computer readable medium associated with the computer of the beveragedispenser. This location information may further be stored inconjunction with the computer operating the touch-sensitive graphicaldisplay, or providing the touch-sensitive graphical display withoperation instructions to present the GUI along with any associatedicons.

At 108 the stored icon locations are compared to the touch event datapoints. The comparison of the stored icon locations to the touch eventdata points at 108 enable an icon associated with each touch event datapoint to be identified at 110. In exemplary embodiments, all of thetouch event data points may be associated with a single icon, such as inthe event of all of the touch event data points being associated with asingle touch event. Although it is to be recognized that in otherinstances, a plurality of different icons associated with touch eventdata points may be identified, particularly when multiple users areproviding touch inputs to the GUI in the concurrent dispense of multiplebeverages from the beverage dispenser. In a still further example, auser inputting a flick gesture within a single beverage selectionsection may result in touch event data points being associated with oneor more icons due to the nature of the gesture.

At 112 a GUI section associated with each identified icon is identified.As noted above, in some instances one or more identified icons may beassociated with a single GUI section. For example, a first beverageselection section in a first configuration may receive a “flick” gesturewhich results in one or more lists of touch even data points with datapoints associated with two adjacent icons as the user's finger moves. Inother instances, the identified icons may reside in two or moredifferent GUI sections, exemplarily within a first beverage selectionsection and a second beverage selection section.

At 114 a determination is made if more than one GUI section isidentified. In general, the beverage dispenser operates to create aplurality of GUI sections which are interpreted as independentmulti-touch user interfaces within a single touch-sensitive graphicaldisplay. If all of the identified icons are located within one GUIsection, then at 116 a decision loop is created as to whether or not agesture in a first. GUI section containing the at least one identifiedicon is complete.

In embodiments, gesture inputs typically occur over a length of time andtherefore are detected across a plurality of received lists of touchevent data points. Also withinembodiments, a complete gesture includes atouch down event and a release. While action or operational control mayoccur starting with detection of a touch down event of a gesture, thegesture is completed after a release event is detected. In embodiments,this presents an additional challenge as often touch-sensitive graphicaldisplays (and associated digitizers) may only include changes in touch(e.g. capacitive state) detected by the touch-sensitive graphicaldisplay. Therefore, in an example, where a user is inputting a “touchand hold” gesture input, gesture input may appear in the list of touchevent data points during the touch down event portion, followed bysubsequent lists of no touch event data points related to this gesture,followed by a list containing touch event data points indicating therelease event completing the gesture. The method 100 continues in themanner as described previously and as described in further detail hereinuntil the gesture is complete at 116. Completion of the gesture at 116may result in any of a number of operational commands, controls, oractions taken by the computer, including, but not limited to storing auser selection at 118, operating the graphical display at 120, orsending a command to the MFV board at 122.

In an exemplary embodiment of a user selection of a branded beverage ora supplemental flavor, after completion of the tap gesture on theassociated icon the computer may store the user's selection of thisflavor at 118. Concurrent to this storing of the user's selection, thecomputer may operate the graphical display at 120 to update thegraphical display to reflect the user's selection. In an exemplary eventof a beverage selection in the first configuration of the beverageselection section, the computer may operate the graphical display tochange the beverage selection section from the first configuration tothe second configuration as described above. In the event of a selectionof a supplemental flavor, the computer may operate the graphical displayto change the associated flavor icon to visually indicate that the userhas selected the supplemental flavor, for example, by changing a colorof the flavor icon.

In the event of a selection of the dispense input, exemplarily through a“touch and hold” gesture input to the pour button icon, the computersends a command at 122 to the MFV board to begin the dispense ofuser-selected beverage. Along with the dispense command, the computermay send the stored selections of branded beverage and any additionalflavoring requested by the user. It will be recognized, that in theexemplary embodiment, that the one or more commands (e.g. to initiatedispense and/or provide the selected beverage) may be sent to the MFVboard upon initiation of the “touch and hold” gesture exemplarily upon atouch down event detection and also upon completion of the “touch andhold” gesture by detection of a release event wherein a cut offertermination command is sent to the MFV board.

As discussed above, when multiple touch inputs are received concurrentlyand possibly simultaneously, particular challenges arise in accuratelyparsing these inputs and translating them into the proper operationalcommands and functionality of the beverage dispenser. If at 114, morethan one GUI section has been identified at 112, then the method 100also begins a decision loop at 124 to interpret if a gesture in thesecond GUI section is complete. Similar to that of the gesture in thefirst GUI section described previously, the decision loop continuesacross a plurality of received list of touch event data points and isprocessed in the manner as disclosed above. The completed gestures inthe second GUI section can result in storing a user selection at 126,operating the graphical display at 128 and sending a command to an MFVboard at 130 in similar manners as described previously with respect tothese actions in connection with the first GUI section.

Two examples are herein provided to highlight exemplary situations inwhich the method 100 and beverage dispensers disclosed herein findparticular advantage over previous solutions. In a first example, twousers simultaneously make beverage selections using tap inputs torespective icons in the first beverage selection section and the secondbeverage selection section. This results in a list of touch event datapoints that includes data points in two different GUI sections relatedto two different gesture inputs by two different users. The method asdescribed herein operates to parse these touch event data points intothe two simultaneously received gestures for accurate operation of thebeverage dispenser.

In a second example, a first user initiates a dispense of a beverage bybeginning a touch and hold gesture input to a pour button icon.Concurrent to the first user holding the dispense icon, a second userbegins a flick gesture in a second beverage selection section.Concurrent to the flick gesture, the first user releases the touch andhold input. In this example, with reference to FIG. 5, the initiation ofthe touch and hold input by the first user is received in Layer 3,specific to the configuration of the first beverage selection section;however, due to the concurrent receipt of the flick gesture in thesecond beverage selection section, the release of the touch and holdgesture is received in Layer 1 which is common to both the firstbeverage selection section and second beverage selection section.Therefore, the method 100 and the beverage dispenser are able toidentify and interpret a gesture input initiated in a first GUI layerwhile completed in a different GUI layer.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart that depicts an exemplary embodiment of a method200 of dispensing at least one beverage. In exemplary embodiments, themethod 200 may be performed in connection with the method 100 aspreviously described and may be performed by the beverage dispenserdescribed in the present application. At 202 a user input is received ata first beverage selection section. The user input may exemplarily be aselection of a branded beverage, a supplemental flavor to the brandedbeverage or a dispense input. Next, at 204 the computer of the beveragedispenser selects content to be presented in the content section 52(FIG. 5) based upon the user input. The content may exemplarily by usedand/or images. The content and rules or instructions for contentselection may be preprogrammed to the computer and may include, but isnot limited to, advertisements (e.g. advertisements for a selectedbranded beverage), promotions (e.g. sales or combination deals relatedto beverages or particular beverages), suggested “mixology” (e.g.suggested supplemental flavors or combinations of flavors to add to aselected branded beverage), and video or image content (e.g. sportsclips or relaxing; scenery). The content may be stored at the computer,or in a computer readable medium associated with the computer as well asrules for which content to present in connection with which userselections.

At 206 the selected content is presented in the content section of theGUI on the touch-sensitive graphical display. The presentation ofselected content may continue so long as a single user is providinginput to the beverage dispenser. At 208 if the beverage dispenserreceives a user input to a second beverage selection section, therebyindicating a second concurrent user of the beverage dispenser. Then adetermination is made at 210 whether the first user and use of the firstbeverage selection section is complete. In an exemplary embodiment, thebeverage dispenser may determine if the first beverage selection iscomplete in at least two ways. In one example, the beverage selectionsection may return to a default or home configuration after the dispenseof a beverage. In a second example, which may be used in conjunctionwith the first method, an inactivity timer measures a length of timesince a user input was received within a beverage selection section andif the inactivity timer reaches a predetermined threshold time, thebeverage selection is deemed to be complete or otherwise abandoned andthe beverage selection section returns to a home or defaultconfiguration, which may exemplarily be the first configurationdescribed above.

If the first beverage selection is still occurring and is not completethen at 212 a new input to the first beverage selection section is orhas been received and further content can be selected based upon the newinput to the first beverage selection section at 214 and the newselected content is presented in the content section at 216. If, at 210,the first beverage selection is complete, then at 218 content isselected based upon the user input to the second beverage selectionsection and this new selected, content is presented in the contentsection.

It will be recognized that in additional embodiments, when multiplebeverage selections are occurring concurrently, that the selection ofcontent may be made based upon the user inputs by more than one of theconcurrent users. Additionally, content may further be selected basedupon a particular user input based upon where in the beverage selectionprocess, each user is. For example, if a first user is currentlydispensing beverage while another user has selected a branded beveragebut is selecting supplemental flavors, the content may be selected topresent the second user with suggested “mixology” relevant to theactions of the second user while the first user has already made suchselections and is in the processing of completing the beverage dispense.

Exemplary embodiments as disclosed herein have still further advantagesin particular embodiments. In an exemplary embodiment, the beveragedispenser may be operated in a “crew mode” in which the beverageselection sections are configured for operation by a food service workerto dispense beverages ordered by restaurant customers. In one exemplaryembodiment of operation of the beverage dispenser in a crew mode, thedispense of the beverage involves a selection of a cup size and thedispense command provided from the computer to the MFV board is arequested dispense volume or dispense time associated to the selectedcup size.

In an embodiment, an Americans with Disability Act (ADA) compliantinterface can be provided where the touch-sensitive display ispositioned above the height limit according to ADA protocol. In anexemplary embodiment, an ADA interface which can be a capacitive touch,five-button-type interface which an operator may change the userinterface to adjust the interface from an embodiment where the inputsare gesture oriented to simpler selection type interface which enablesusers with disabilities to more easily use the beverage dispenser. Instill further embodiments, user interface appearance can be adjustedwith skins to result in more setting specific or facility specificappearances.

Advantages of the beverage dispenser and methods as disclosed hereinfurther achieve increased user throughput by enabling multiple users tooperate a beverage dispenser concurrently to dispense selectedbeverages. This may decrease a length of service lines and improve usesatisfaction and wait times. Still further embodiments enable dedicateduser interfaces for the presentation of multiple beverages and/orbrands. For example, a first beverage selection section may be dedicatedto the presentation and dispense from a first branded beveragesselection (e.g. COKE products) while a second beverage selection sectionis dedicated to the presentation and dispense of beverages from a secondbranded beverages selection (e.g. PEPSI products). In still furtherembodiments, multiple beverage types may be dispensed with a singlebeverage dispenser as disclosed herein. For example, one beverageselection section is dedicated to the selection and dispense of softdrinks, while another beverage selection section is dedicated to theselection and dispense of teas, juices, and/or smoothies.

In still further exemplary embodiments, the beverage dispenser caninclude one or more programmable touch-sensitive graphical displays. Insuch an exemplary embodiment, the beverage dispenser could exemplarilycomprise a kiosk of four or five touch-sensitive graphical displays,each supporting multi-touch user inputs by a plurality of users. While aseparate beverage dispenser as disclosed herein may be associated witheach of the touch-sensitive graphical displays in the system, in analternative embodiment, a computer and software application may be usedto processes the inputs of multiple touch-sensitive graphical displaysand the associated operation and control of all of the associated MFVboards.

With further reference to FIG. 4, in an additional exemplary embodiment,the GUI 50 may further include override section 62A-D. These sectionsexemplarily reside in Layer 0 and in an embodiment are not graphicallypresented to the user in the GUI 50. Rather, an owner, operator, ortechnician may know of the existence of such sections and upon thereceipt or selection of these sections, exemplarily with a tap input andfurther exemplarily in a sequential order (e.g. 62A, 62B, 62C, 62D) thecomputer operates the touch-sensitive graphical display to modify theGUI 50 to visually present an authentication section 64. Theauthentication section 64 prompts a user to enter an authenticationcredential, including, but not limited to a passcode. Upon successfulinput of an accepted passcode the user may be presented with operationalsettings and/or controls for the beverage dispenser including, but notlimited to controls related to the selection of particular beverageicons, available content and content selection rules, or layout inconfiguration of the beverage selection section.

The functional block diagrams, operational sequences, and flow diagramsprovided in the Figures are representative of exemplary architectures,environments, and methodologies for performing novel aspects of thedisclosure. While, for purposes of simplicity of explanation, themethodologies included herein may be in the form of a functionaldiagram, operational sequence, or flow diagram, and may be described asa series of acts, it is to be understood and appreciated that themethodologies are not limited by the order of acts, as some acts may, inaccordance therewith, occur in a different order and/or concurrentlywith other acts from that shown and described herein. For example, thoseskilled in the art will understand and appreciate that a methodology canalternatively be represented as a series of interrelated states orevents, such as in a state diagram. Moreover, not all acts illustratedin a methodology may be required for a novel implementation.

In the present Description, certain terms have been used for brevity,clearness and understanding. No unnecessary limitations are to beimplied therefrom beyond the requirement of the prior art because suchterms are used for descriptive purposes only and are intended to bebroadly construed. The different embodiments described herein may beused alone or in combination with other apparatuses, systems andmethods. Various equivalents, alternatives and modifications arepossible within the scope of the appended claims.

This written description uses examples to disclose the invention,including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in theart to make and use the invention. The patentable scope of the inventionis defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur tothose skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be withinthe scope of the claims if they have structural elements that do notdiffer from the literal language of the claims, or if they includeequivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from theliteral languages of the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A beverage dispenser comprising: atouch-sensitive graphical display operable to simultaneously receive aplurality of touch inputs the touch-sensitive graphical displaycomprising a digitizer that produces a list of touch event data pointsrepresenting received touch events sensed by the touch-sensitivegraphical display from at least a first user and a second user, thefirst and second users being different, the touch-sensitive graphicaldisplay operable to present a graphical user interface (GUI); a computercommunicatively connected to the touch-sensitive graphical display, thecomputer executes computer readable code stored on a computer readablemedium, such that the computer receives the list of touch event datapoints from the touch-sensitive graphical display, identifies at least afirst icon and a second icon associated with the touch event data pointsin the list of touch event data points, identifies a first GUI sectionassociated with the first icon and a second GUI section associated withthe second icon, interprets at least a first gesture input from thefirst user from touch event data points associated with the first GUIsection and a second gesture input from the second user from the touchevent data points associaed to the second GUI section, and produces afirst control signal in response to the first gesture input and a secondcontrol signal in response to the second gesture input; a firstdispensing system comprising a plurality of valves configured to controla flow of at least one diluent and at least one flavoring; and a seconddispensing system comprising a plurality of valves configured to controla flow of at least one diluent and at least one flavoring; wherein thecomputer directs the first control signal to the first dispensing systemand directs the second control signal to the second dispensing system.2. The beverage dispenser of claim 1, wherein the first and secondcontrol signals comprise at least one flavoring in a dispensed beverage,and comprise at least one pour command and upon receipt of the controlsignal by either of the first dispensing system or the second dispensingsystem, the receiving dispensing system operates to dispense a beveragecomprising the at least one flavoring.
 3. The beverage dispenser ofclaim 2, wherein the first or second gesture input comprises a touchportion of the gesture input and a hold portion of the gesture inputwherein upon interpreting the touch portion, a corresponding controlsignal indicates a length of time for dispense and upon interpreting arelease of the hold portion of the gesture input, a correspondingcontrol signal indicates termination of the dispense.
 4. The beveragedispenser of claim 1, wherein the first GUI section is a first beverageselection section associated with the first dispensing system and thesecond GUI section is a second beverage selection section associatedwith the second dispensing system and the computer interprets a firstgesture input in the first beverage selection section and a concurrentsecond gesture input in the second beverage selection section from thetouch event data points, wherein the first beverage selection sectionand the second beverage selection section are non-overlapping within theGUI.
 5. The beverage dispenser of claim 1, wherein the first GUI sectionand the second GUI section are non-overlapping GUI sections forming aGUI layer of a hierarchy of GUI layers.
 6. The beverage dispenser ofclaim 5, wherein the computer operates to identify a GUI layer of thehierarchy of GUI layers common to each of the touch event data points.7. The beverage dispenser of claim 6, wherein the first GUI section is afirst beverage selection section in a first GUI layer and associatedwith the first dispensing system, and second GUI section is a secondbeverage selection section in the first GUI layer and associated withthe second dispensing system.
 8. The beverage dispenser of claim 7,wherein the first beverage selection section and the second beverageselection section share a common user section in a second GUI layer. 9.The beverage dispenser of claim 7, further comprising: a firstconfiguration and a second configuration of both of the first beverageselection section and the second beverage selection section; wherein thefirst configuration presents a plurality of available beverages forselection by a user and the second configuration presents a plurality offlavor supplements and a dispense command for selection by a user. 10.The beverage dispenser of claim 1 wherein the first dispensing systemdispenses a first beverage upon receipt of the first control signal andthe second dispensing system dispenses a second beverage upon receipt ofthe second control signal.
 11. A beverage dispenser for concurrentdispense of a first beverage requested by a first user and a secondbeverage requested by a second user, the beverage dispenser comprising:a touch-sensitive graphical display comprising a digitizer and operableto simultaneously receive a plurality of touch inputs and the digitizerproduces lists of touch event data points representing concurrentlyreceived touch events sensed by the touch-sensitive graphical displayfrom at least a first user and a second user, the first and second usersbeing different, the touch-sensitive graphical display operable topresent a graphical user interface (GUI) having a plurality of GUIlayers, each layer comprising non-overlapping GUI sections; a computercommunicatively connected to the touch-sensitive graphical display, thecomputer executes computer readable code stored on a computer readablemedium, such that the computer receives the lists of touch event datapoints from the touch-sensitive graphical display, identifies a GUIlayer of the plurality of GUI layers common to the touch event datapoints in each received list, identifies at least a first icon and asecond icon associated with touch event data points in a received list,identifies a first GUI section of the GUI layer associated with thefirst icon and a second GUI section of the GUI layer associated with thesecond icon, interprets at least a first gesture input from the firstuser from the touch event data points associated to the first GUIsection and a second gesture input from the second user from the touchevent data points associated to the second GUI section, and produces afirst control signal in response to the first gesture input and a secondcontrol signal in response to the second gesture input; a firstdispensing system comprising a plurality of valves configured to controla flow of at least one diluent and at least one flavoring wherein thefirst dispensing system receives the first control signal and operatesto dispense the first beverage requested by the first control signal;and a second dispensing system comprising a plurality of valvesconfigured to control a flow of at least one diluent and at least oneflavoring wherein the second dispensing system receives the secondcontrol signal and operates to dispense the second beverage requested bythe second control signal.
 12. The beverage dispenser of claim 11,further comprising: a diluent source connected to at least one flowvalve of the first dispensing system and at least one flow valve of thesecond dispensing system; and a plurality of flavoring sources connectedto a plurality of flow valves of the first dispensing system and aplurality of flow valves of the second dispensing system; wherein thefirst control signal is indicative of a first combination of flavoringsfrom the plurality of flavoring sources and the second control signal isindicative of a second combination of flavorings from the plurality offlavoring sources.
 13. The beverage dispenser of claim 11, furthercomprising: a computer readable medium communicatively connected to thecomputer upon which current locations of each icon presented in the GUIare stored; wherein the computer compares the stored current locationsof each icon to locations of each of the touch event data points toidentify at least one icon associated with each touch event data point.14. The beverage dispenser of claim 12, further comprising: an icedispensing system and; wherein the computer identifies a third iconassociated with touch event data points in the received list, identifiesa third GUI section associated with the third icon, interprets a thirdgesture input from the touch event data points associated to the thirdGUI section, and produces a third control signal in response to thethird gesture input, the third control signal directed to the icedispensing system and indicative of a requested ice dispense.
 15. Thebeverage dispenser of claim 11, wherein the GUI further comprises amedia section and a plurality of graphical content is stored at acomputer readable medium communicatively connected to the computer, thecomputer selects graphical content based upon the first gesture inputand operates the graphical display to present the selected graphicalcontent.
 16. In a beverage dispenser having a graphical user interface(GUI) presented on a touch-sensitive graphical display, and at least afirst dispensing system and a second dispensing system, a method ofdispensing a beverage, the method comprising: concurrently receiving afirst user input from a first user and a second user input from a seconduser to the GUI presented on the touch-sensitive graphical display, thefirst user being different from the second user; providing a list oftouch event data points indicative of touch events sensed by thetouch-sensitive graphical display; identifying a plurality of iconspresented in the GUI associated with each touch event data point;identifying a first GUI section of the GUI and a second GUI section ofthe GUI associated with the identified icons, the first GUI section andthe second GUI section non-overlapping within the GUI; interpreting thetouch event data points in the first GUI section as a first gestureinput; interpreting the touch event data points in the second GUIsection as a second gesture input; providing a first command instructionto the first dispensing system based upon the first gesture input; andproviding a second command instruction to the second dispensing systembased upon the second gesture input.
 17. The method of claim 16, furthercomprising: upon receiving the first command instruction, operating thefirst dispensing system to dispense a beverage; and upon receiving thesecond command instruction, operating the second dispensing system todispense a beverage.
 18. The method of claim 16, wherein the list oftouch event data points identifies points on the GUI in which a changein touch state has occurred.
 19. The method of claim 18, furthercomprising: storing a current location of each icon within the GUI;comparing the stored current location of each icon to the touch eventdata points; and identifying the plurality of icons associated with eachtouch event data point from the comparison.
 20. The method of claim 16,further comprising: identifying at least one flavoring selection from agesture input to the first GUI section; and storing the identified atleast one flavoring selection; wherein the first command instructionfurther comprises the at least one flavoring selection.